Department of Accountancy & Taxation

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Accounting

Course Descriptions

Students will investigate the accounting techniques and results in financial accounting and reporting. They will be introduced to the generally accepted accounting principles for financial reporting.

Benefits/Application to Career

Required course for business majors. Student receives an excellent overview of financial reporting.

ACCT 2332

Managerial Accounting

This course will investigate the accounting tools, techniques and practices used in managerial and cost accounting. We will look at cost accumulation and analysis, planning and control systems and applications of cost data to business decision and performance evaluation.

Benefits/Application to Career

Required course for business majors. Student receives an excellent overview of cost accounting, budgeting and control.

ACCT 3337

Management Accounting

This course continues students’ introduction to managerial and cost accounting from ACCT 2331 and ACCT 2332. Students will review and expand on issues associate with traditional product-costing methods and recognize the need for changing existing management accounting systems to calculate more accurate product costs and better cost information.

Benefits/Application to Career

The management accounting practitioner adds value to their organization through the product costing function (the accumulation and transformation of cost data for the purposes of inventory valuation and income determination) and the cost management function (the collection of information to make short and long term decisions.)

Students will be able to use cost information to facilitate long and short horizon planning, decision making, management control and performance evaluation of their firm or customers organizations. Career wise, they should be able to perform the above functions from the accumulation of cost data to it’s transformation into meaningful information.

ACCT 3367

Intermediate Accounting 1

This course reviews the environment and conceptual framework of accounting, the accounting cycle, basic financial statement, and time value of money concepts.

Benefits/Application to Career

Intermediate I is especially beneficial to students who wish to pursue a career in accounting or finance. While the topic coverage is similar to what students receive in an introductory financial accounting course, the depth of coverage is much greater. Anyone working with financial statement numbers will benefit greatly from knowing how they are calculated.

ACCT 3368

Intermediate Accounting 2

This course presents and evaluates the theory and application of financial accounting. It helps students to develop competence in the analysis of exchange transaction and in the application of financial accounting theory procedures.

Benefits/Application to Career

Intermediate Accounting II covers some of the most important accounting concepts related to liabilities and owner's equity. It is sometimes called the guts of accounting and is critical for passing the CPA exam or working in a finance environment. It covers such topics as Earnings per Share, investments in marketable securities, income tax accounting, leases, pensions, the statement of cash flows and financial statement derivatives.

ACCT 3371

Accounting Information Systems

The course consists of lecture, discussion, and software instruction. Students will be assigned projects that require familiarity with and use of several software programs relevant to accounting information systems.

Benefits/Application to Career

This course covers how economic transactions are identified, collected, recorded and reported. At the core of the course is an examination of accounting cycles --- revenue, expenditures, production, human resources, financing --- and how they operate. Special emphasis is placed on the system of internal controls as an essential element required to achieve the goal of providing accounting information that is useful for decision makers. ACCT3371 provides an overall understanding of how accounting systems operate and is a prerequisite for Auditing (ACCT4335). Basic knowledge of double entry accounting is assumed. Also included in the course is an introduction to database concepts, automated accounting software, relevant Excel capabilities and fraud examination. The course provides a foundation for advanced courses focusing specifically on these topics.

ACCT 4331

Federal Income Tax - Individual

This course covers the basics of the Federal income tax law as it applies to individuals and corporations. Students will examine the major provisions of tax law, the application of law to specific factual situations, and the income tax consequences involved in financial decision making.

Benefits/Application to Career

By the end of the semester, the student should be familiar with some of the more commonly encountered rules, regulations, judicial precedents, problem areas, and planning opportunities relating to each of these areas of federal tax law.

ACCT 4335

Financial Statement Auditing

This course covers auditing standings and procedures and requires students to examine business and accounting concepts from an auditor’s perspective. To prepare students for the auditing profession, this course will combine theory and real world practice. Classes include lectures, interactive discussions, and exercises.

Benefits/Application to Career

After taking this course, students should understand how to plan an audit, assess internal control, gather and document audit evidence, and write an appropriate audit report.

ACCT 4375

Internal Audit and the Entity Control Environment

This course will explore control and auditing procedures within companies. It will provide conceptual knowledge of internal auditing, exposure to professional standards and responsibilities of operational and internal auditors, and awareness of the behavioral aspects of operational and internal auditing.

Benefits/Application to Career

Students will improve critical thinking skills and technical ability to plan, design, and execute internal and operational audits.

ACCT 4379

Enterprise Risk Management

Through the study of ERM, students have a better understanding how an overall organization functions and how important it is for the organization to manage risks and have related systems of internal control. Students learn the role of the internal auditor in the ERM process. In addition to ERM students also get to practice the basics of internal auditing including gaining a more indepth understanding of the IPPF, practice drafting audit findings and an audit report, data mining techniques that are used for continuous monitoring, working on a group project (ie audit team), presenting in class (ie board of directors) and hearing from practicing internal auditors and Chief Risk Officers how it is done in the real world. Last but not least the students are introduced to the local chapter of the IIA monthly meetings which they view as both a learning and networking opportunity.

Benefits/Application to Career

Students now understand that Internal Auditing is a real profession and provides an exciting career path. When students are interviewing for internal audit positions they will be able to discuss internal controls, ERM and various aspects of the profession. The knowledge that the students obtain in the ERM class enable them to ask more meaningful questions related to the profession.

ACCT 4380

Control and Security of Internal Financial Information

Students in Control & Security of Financial Information learn the fundamentals of information security and techniques for securing hardware, software, and information. The course aims to prepare students how to create a secure computing environment. Lecture topics include elements of information security, common threats and countermeasures, and management, operational, and technical controls.

Benefits/Application to Career

Completion of this course helps prepare one to become a Certified Internal Auditor.

ACCT 4377

Governmental and Non-Profit Accounting

This course provides an in-depth understanding of the unique environment, concepts, and procedures of accounting, financial reporting, auditing, and budgeting of governmental and not-for-profit organizations, with emphasis on the governmental accounting reporting model (GASB #34) currently being implemented by governmental entities and implementation of FASB Standards by not-for-profit entities.

To make accounting majors and other students having an interest in public sector accounting aware of the dynamism of government and NFP accounting and of the intellectual challenges that it presents. The course provides an in-depth understanding of the unique environment, concepts, and procedures of accounting, financial reporting, auditing, and budgeting of governmental and not-for-profit organizations, with emphasis on the governmental accounting reporting model (GASB # 34) currently being implemented by governmental entities and implementation of FASB Standards by Not-for-Profit entities.

Benefits/Application to Career

This area is becoming increasingly more important as most governments and not-for-profit organizations actively seek to improve their ability to provide vital services more efficiently and effectively. As a result, the governmental and not-for-profit sectors provide a growing market for public accounting firms in providing accounting, audit, and consulting services.

Most of the students can expect to have some involvement with government and not-for-profit entities during their professional careers, either as a Controller/CEO of a governmental/NFP entity, as an auditor with a public accounting firm or State Auditor, or as an accountant or financial manager with such an entity, be on the Board of an NFP or even hold a public office. Accordingly, the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination has placed more emphasis on this area in recent years. Approximately thirty percent of one of the four parts of the CPA exam is now devoted to governmental and not-for-profit entity accounting.

ACCT 4378

Oil and Gas Accounting

This course covers the basic financial accounting and reporting issues related to oil and gas producing activities. It involves the application of standards set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the regulations established by the Securities and Exchange commission.

Benefits/Application to Career

Students will become familiar with accounting problem related to oil and gas production in view of the socio-economic and politico-legal environments of the petroleum industry. They will also study current accounting practices of oil and gas producing companies related to exploration, acquisition, and development of oil gas properties and the production of oil and gas.

ACCT 4381

Oil and Gas Accounting 2

Oil & Gas Accounting II builds on knowledge from Oil & Gas Accounting I. It covers intermediate financial accounting, reporting and auditing issues in the upstream, midstream, marketing and trading, downstream and oilfield services sectors of the energy industry. It also introduces the primary conveyance transactions and associated purchase accounting and valuation issues in each of the sub-sectors. It addresses the application of standards set by the Financial Accounting Standards Boards, regulations established by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a comparison to International Financial Reporting Standards.

Benefits/Application to Career

There are a number of companies and CPA firms who are looking to hire students who have completed O&G1, 2 and 3. No other university in the country offers this training and over 60% of business in Southeast Texas is O&G related.

Benefits/Application to Career

There are a number of companies and CPA firms who are looking to hire students who have completed O&G1, 2 and 3. No other university in the country offers this training and over 60% of business in Southeast Texas is O&G related.